Last week’s 11th Breakfast Debate focused on the improvement of the daily lives of citizens in cross border regions. Euro-cities, Euroregions and cross border regions with significant urban populations present numerous opportunities for cooperation across borders such as in the areas of Education, Health, Transport, Labour market opportunities and more. However, more isolated and less densely populated cross border areas might need a more nuanced approach in improving the daily lives of citizens. One such example of a good practice exploring and implementing cross border cooperation was the BROADEN project pilot that has been implemented in the cross-border area of Sweden and Norway.

Who?

The Broaden project pilot was not implemented or designed by an established structure of cross border cooperation, but was rather developed with the collaboration between Värmland (Sweden) and Innlandet (Norway) counties. The pilot was conducted under the CORA project which was financed through the Interreg VB North Sea 2014-2020 programme with a total budget of 4.645.320 Euros with 2.098.298 Euros consisting of EU funding. The pilot on the two cross border municipalities costed just 120.000 Euros from which 45.000 was in EU funding. The pilot was implemented between the Torsby (Sweden) and Grue (Norway) municipalities.

What?

Investing in cross border cooperation and digital infrastructure is part of the COnnecting Remote Areas with digital infrastructure and services (CORA) Interreg 2014-2020 project. The project itself targets remote and rural areas which are characteristic of big portions of the extensive border regions in Sweden and Norway. Both sides have experienced challenges concerning depopulation and a high proportion of non-tech-savvy elderly residents and the project aimed at making the region more attractive for businesses and inhabitants by “improving the opportunity to work, learn and access public services such as e-health at distance”. As part of the CORA project, the municipalities of Torsby and Grue, which are situated across each other on the south-central borders of Sweden and Norway were selected for the implementation of the cross-border pilot.

How?

The cooperation was implemented, as is the case in other Interreg projects, with the participation of a multitude of organizations that included national and local policy makers, private sector entities and academic institutions. The partners developed a model for infrastructure sharing through the engagement of the telecommunications industry. The partnership specifically examined differences in legal terms and technical standards between the two participating countries and planned for the first pilot rollout. Subsequently the Pilot was implemented in the border small towns of Torsby and Grue and included the deployment of a cross border fibre cable which was installed underwater in the border lake Röjden/Røgden and extended to reach the appropriate telecommunications cabinet in the Norwegian side. From there the fibre lines were connected to Norwegian businesses and households providing remote areas with high-speed internet for the first time. Recognizing the specific needs of the beneficiaries of the Norwegian side, which included many elderly citizens, the project also held digital inclusion seminars.

Results

The development of the infrastructure sharing methodology and the successful pilot in Torsby and Grue municipalities have yielded valuable insights and materials that can inform and significantly benefit similar approaches in other cross-border areas in the future. First of all, the technical plan for cross border fibre deployment provides a template for similar endeavors in internal EU cross border regions as well as between EU and non-EU countries. Secondly, a significant lesson learned from the project was the identification that no serious legal impediments are present when considering digital infrastructure sharing interventions between countries. However, challenges were identified in terms of differences in business models, national digital strategies, and mechanisms for public funding across borders. While these challenges have slowed progress for the BROADEN project, they have also underscored the importance of cross-border cooperation in these areas. Those challenges have slowed progress for the BROADEN project but also highlighted the importance of cross border cooperation in those areas. Additionally, minor technical issues, such as incorrect IP-related recognition of the user's country of origin in cases of internet sharing, were identified and can be addressed in future implementations.

For more information on the BROADEN project, you can refer to this video and these reports:1, 2. If you are interested in the CORA parent project, you can find additional information on its official website or its profile in Keep.eu.